He wants one more thing this season.

"Our goals are to get better every week and to work hard,'' he said to The Maui News. "Definitely, our first goal is to work on the D-II. That's our first goal, to win that. But we'll take every game as it comes and get better from the beginning of the season until the end.''

The Trojans, a conglomerate team with 29 players on the roster from St. Anthony plus Seabury Hall's Chris Sugidono, have already showed marked improvement over last year, Pico's first as head coach. Last year, the Trojans — then known as Pac-3 — ended an 18-game winless drought with a 6-6 tie with Maui High. They followed that with a victory in this year's first preseason game, beating Fort McMurray of Canada 37-12 on Aug. 25.

"That was pretty important,'' Pico said. "It let everybody know that it was possible; being so long since they won a game, they get into that rut of losing and accepting losing, so winning that game was a step forward and they're realizing that they can win and that hard work pays off.''

That hard work has led to two consecutive preseason games of 200 rushing yards or more, including a 236-yard effort against West Hills (Calif.) on Saturday. The 37-16 loss to West Hills proved to be uplifting to a team that suited up 20 players against the Wolfpack's 60.

"That was a good team. They were 60-strong, and we had our 20 guys, so I was real proud of the guys, how hard they played,'' Pico said. "That's one thing I give our guys, they play hard for four quarters no matter what.''

Sophomore tailback Jordan Kahalekai-Bermoy had 11 carries for 70 yards and a touchdown against West Hills.

"That made a big difference,'' Kahalekai-Bermoy said of the loss. "West Hills, I think they would do good in this league. They would be tough. With them giving us help with how fast they move, that will help us a lot in this league.''

The Trojans' offensive line, anchored by 6-foot-1, 305-pound sophomore center Josh Tatofi, is big and has proved adept at opening holes for a three-pronged ground attack. Junior running back Keith Flores led the team in preseason rushing yards with 138, and has run for three touchdowns. Kahalekai-Bermoy had 120 yards and a score, and junior Billy Pacheco added 75 yards.

"We have some size, our offensive line is pretty big,'' Pico said. "We have as much size as anybody on the offensive line and the defensive line. They're still young boys, they're still growing.''

It may not be necessary for the line to get much bigger — junior Kalani Fineisaloi is 5-11, 285, sophomore Garrett Newton is 6-1, 270, junior Owen Sotello is 6-1, 270 and junior Stephen Imai is 6-0, 265.

"A lot of our line has returnees from last year, and we've been playing together for two, three years. I think we're pretty strong there,'' said Tatofi, one of the team's captains. "Our linemen have been training hard on the sleds, pushing, driving, building up our legs, they've been getting smarter in their assignments.''

In a sign of the team's improving depth, Pico has a quarterback competition on his hands. Last year's starter, junior Buta Wilhelm-Ioane, is locked in a battle with sophomore Aronne Santos, called up from the junior varsity. In the Trojans' victory over Fort McMurray, Wilhelm-Ioane was 3-of-7 for 43 yards and an interception, and added five rushes for 14 yards and a touchdown. Santos made his varsity debut last week against West Hills, going 3-of-8 for 65 yards, and adding another 58 yards on the ground on 14 carries.

"(Wilhelm-Ioane) has got experience, number one,'' Pico said. "He started all last year for us and he's a tough guy. He does a lot of things good, he's a leader.

"Aronne is a first-year varsity player. They both have their little intangibles. Aronne is quick, he can escape from some stuff and he can run a little bit.

"They both can throw the ball fairly decent. They're kind of even, I don't think we drop off very much with either one.''

Whoever starts will have senior Garrett Gonsalves as a top target. The speedy 5-8, 150-pound receiver led the Trojans with 10 receptions for 185 yards and a touchdown last season and was tied for ninth in the MIL in catches. He also had 59 yards on the ground and one touchdown last year.

On defense, the Trojans run a 3-5 and use the speed of their linebackers to make plays.

"We're really fast, we're really good,'' senior defensive end Jacob Skelton said. "We can tackle. There's not really a big gap. I feel that defense is our strong suit.''

While the Trojans struggled against the rush last year, finishing last in the MIL, they were third in defending the pass.

"Our defense is strong, way stronger than last year,'' said Kahalekai-Bermoy, who also plays linebacker. "Everyone is committed to play defense. All 11 guys on defense want to get out there and hit somebody.''

Defensive coordinator Mark Joaquin installed the 3-5 last year, Pico said. It's taken awhile for the players to adjust, but he feels the team is improved.

"The kids have really bought into it this year. We've got it pretty down now, they're picking it up and we're real pleased with our defense,'' Pico said. "Our defense, we'll surprise some guys. We'll be very tough on defense. We got some athletes there. We'll hold our own.''

With only five seniors, this team might be building toward something bigger down the road.

"I'd love to go to state this year, but just in the future to see a building block, this team going to state and maybe winning state, that's really my goal,'' Skelton said.

While Tatofi and Skelton feel that there are more wins in the next few months, just playing and improving is the focus for now.

"It'd be great to get wins. But as long as everyone is coming out and working hard, that's already a big win to me,'' Tatofi said, then laughed as he added, "But a win would be good.''

The Maui News has been previewing MIL teams since Sunday. For more previews and Maui news, click here.

Maui Interscholastic League

Today

Trojans at Kamehameha-Maui, 7:30 p.m.

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